Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

John Petrucci

Progressive Metal


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

John Petrucci Suspended Animation album cover
3.07 | 157 ratings | 31 reviews | 24% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

Write a review

Buy JOHN PETRUCCI Music
from Progarchives.com partners
Studio Album, released in 2005

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Jaws of Life (7:28)
2. Glasgow Kiss (7:47)
3. Tunnel Vision (6:34)
4. Wishful Thinking (7:29)
5. Damage Control (9:15)
6. Curve (6:22) *
7. Lost Without You (4:56)
8. Animate-Inanimate (11:38)

Total Time 61:29

* On some releases, split into two separate tracks: Curve / Interlude

Line-up / Musicians

- John Petrucci / guitars, composer & producer

With:
- Dave LaRue / bass
- Dave DiCenso / drums
- Tim Lefebvre / bass (3)
- Tony Verderosa / acoustic & e-drums (3)

Releases information

Artwork: Mattias Norén

CD Sound Mind Music - 20052 (2005, US)

Thanks to frenchie for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy JOHN PETRUCCI Suspended Animation Music



JOHN PETRUCCI Suspended Animation ratings distribution


3.07
(157 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(24%)
24%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(34%)
34%
Good, but non-essential (32%)
32%
Collectors/fans only (8%)
8%
Poor. Only for completionists (3%)
3%

JOHN PETRUCCI Suspended Animation reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by King of Loss
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This is John Petrucci's first solo album and I must say it was not a surprise to me when I heard this album.

It was a most typical and expected result where a bland instrumental background mixed with John Petrucci's almost bombastic guitar playing and insane licks and chops. The guitar playing in it has a great sense of rhythmn, technique and especially technically. After listening to the song, Glasgow Kiss, I was almost blown away. The incredible use of Neo-Classical shredding mixed in with a great sense of rhythmn has made this one of my favorite Guitar songs of all time. But however, after this song, a lot of the songs worry me greatly due to the fact that most songs completely lack melody. When I mean melody, I mean the brilliant Jazz measures of Liquid Tension Experiment. However, that brilliance was not heard on here and most songs was very reminiscent of Train of Thought, especially the guitar playing and fast, furious Metal assault. Nevertheless, John Petrucci's Suspended Animation serves its purpose for a while to entertain Guitar players and may also entertain certain Metal/Prog Metal fans with its absolutely, mindblowing technicality, speed and precision.

This album is a very good album and most surely be recommended by me.

Review by Menswear
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Seems like I heard this somewhere before?

Oh, I know! John Petrucci is finally here, like Steve Morse or Stevie Vai, but Joe Satriani is not? Weird, because from all those stated, Petrucci is sounding as close as can be to Satch. The only minor difference is the lenght of the songs, althought the albums of Satch clocks at the same time (around 1 hour).

Honestly, this does not scores high marks in originality, if you're a Satriani fan of course! If not, you'll probably think you've bought the best stuff in a long time. Indeed, Petrucci's style is refreshing and althought full of the same technical you're used to listen in the Dream Theater or G3 repertoire which means nice melodies that catches your ear, and soon digs it's way to your heart.

If you're not familiar with the G3 extraordinaire or related material, this is an instrumental album that rocks, roll but progs a tad less. Enjoy!

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars This is not a bad album at all. Yes, I know he is one of great guitarists and I enjoy his work with Dream Theater but I don't expect him to have this kind of album which over show his technical skills. Any guitar player must learn from Steve Hackett or Roine Stolt (of The Flower Kings). The latter always make albums that do not over use their skills in guitars. They use other people's skills in their own roles such as Roine Stolt using alto sax and keyboard players to create rich textures of his music in "The Flower King" album (see my review on this one at this site - it's a masterpiece!). But "Suspended Animation" is nothing different with those albums of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani. I don't intend to demean their skills and virtuosities but over using it into their solo albums do not fit into my musical taste. For me, this album is like Petrucci telling the other musicians (drummer and bass player): "Folks, you just play the rhythm part - I'll play all melodies! Don't go any further, Okay?". The result is a very boring record that did not attract me to purchase at all. By the way, I got this CD on loan basis from my colleague progger Rizal. Having listened to four tracks (and some skimming of next tracks) of this album I conclude there is nothing special about the album but Petrucci's demonstration of his virtuosities. I admit he's a great guitar player but for this album his composition is weak. So, I guess this album is only suitable for those completionist. Two stars would serve well, I think. I'd rather listen to his work with Dream Theater or his previous collaborative work with Jordan Rudess. You are the final judge. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Review by imoeng
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Suspended Animation For those of you who like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai or Yngwie Malmsteen, you will love this album, just like me, plus, I am a guitarist : ) . The songs are really influenced by Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, Steve Vai and of course, Joe Satriani. It is really his first solo album but although this is his debut in producing a solo album, he has done a great job.

The overall songs have a mix of metal - rock - jazz elements. For me, it is not technique or skill that is the most important in every instrumental solo album, but the songs have to have a feeling, deep feeling inside it, which then we can enjoy. My favorite song is Glasgow Kiss, Wishful Thinking and Animate - Inanimate. Glasgow Kiss, which is the song that also played in the G3 Live In Tokyo, is a real combination of great technique and beautiful selection of tones. Wishful Thinking is more like ballad song, but also has a great overall technique in it. One thing about Animate - Inanimate, I love the tones in the second minute, which is VERY beautiful and you know, every time I listen to it, I always smile and I don't know why! : ).

Probably you wouldn't like this CD very much if you are not really into Steve Vai or Joe Satriani. It is because the songs are very different with Dream Theater songs. In Suspended Animation, John Petrucci brings more rockish-not very metal songs, very Joe Satriani.

Personally I would give four star for this album, since this is his first solo album and I think its great! Timur Imam Nugroho - Indonesia

Review by OpethGuitarist
PROG REVIEWER
1 stars A waste of time, it seems like John just wanted to create this to have his own album. Some of the tracks are listenable, but there's no substance to anything here, other than a few cool riffs and solos. If you are a guitar playing looking to improve upon your skills and wanting some basic ideas for songs, then this album may be great for you. However, this album is far from necessary as a part of anyone's music collection.
Review by b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars What to say, about this man as a musician, super guitar player, what to say about this album, almost boring with a little moments that catches my ears. This album sound like you put together Steve Vai and Vinnie Moore, lots of heavy passages and not necesary very intristing. In DT is something else, i like him more on DT or LTE, but here only good but non essential music, to me at least. Don't get me wrong this album is not really bad has good moments like Glasgow kiss and Jaws of life, he rest are so so, but is aimless in my opinion. If you like Vai or Moore, this is the answear, because Suspended animation has nothing in common with DT or LTE, here is more mainstream hevy with some classic varation here and there. 3 stars, not bad but not something special either.
Review by ProgBagel
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars John Petrucci - Suspended Animation 2.0 stars

John Petrucci is the founding member, guitarist and composer for the prog-metal band Dream Theater and guitarist/composer for the instrumental act, Liquid Tension Experiment. John's work can also be heard on other notable acts like various years of the G3 project and the Explorer's Club 'Age of Impact'.

The album features John Petrucci who plays the guitar and produces the work. Dave Larue, who plays for one of John's biggest influences (Dixie Dregs and Steve Morse Band), does the bass work. Dave Dicenso is behind the drum set and Tony Verderosa plays the drums on track number three called 'Tunnel Vision'. Kevin Shirley, the mixer of Dream Theater's 'Train of Thought' and 'Falling into Infinity' albums, as well as the first Liquid Tension Experiment album mixed the album.

This is not good at all in my honest opinion. When I hear about artists that come out with solo albums. I expect something that we would see from Steve Hackett of Genesis, Steven Wilson/Gwen Aviv from Blackfield or the guy from Katatonia that I can never type correctly. Their solo albums are composed of things that they could never do in their respective bands, showing that they have other influences and more talent that they are perceived having. John Petrucci does not apply here. The music on this album is nothing that we haven't heard before in a sense. The solo's just seems like just more thrown in the basket like his solos in every Dream Theater song. They are also very 'shred' oriented, which is exactly what we hear in Dream Theater's music. So what can one say about this album after listening to albums that feature him chronologically? Wow, this guy can play fast.but don't we already know that since his debut album in 1989? The riffs also remind me a lot of the 'Falling Into Infinity' album, which were nothing to progressive, just simply hard rockish.especially on the 'Tunnel Vision' track.

The tracks on this album also seem to go in an order of how good they are. It really is just a gradually, or for some, an extremely downhill journey as the clock counts down. 'Jaws of Life' is the opener that has a pretty cool riff and simple yet cool sounding chorus. This track is seven minutes though, how can I describe it by those two things? Well, the rest is basically just a very long shred work, nothing you haven't heard before at all. 'Glasgow Kiss' is the most well known track on the record. This is because it has a very nice sounding intro. The rest of the track is again just Petrucci creating shred work, but that's all that is offered. The rest of the album is just downhill like I said before. We start to lose the tasteful chorus and intro riffs, and then it just becomes Petrucci's 50- minute solo spot. Don't get me wrong though, the solo's are Dream Theater esque, meaning he is hitting the right notes, but he is constantly going way too fast and there is nothing new being offered at the table, which is the point I am trying to make here.

This album is recommended for fans of Petrucci's work, not Dream Theater's. There is not a huge sense of composition's in the songs and we are lacking melody, it just isn't a fantastic listening experience were a bunch of talented musicians are working together to put out some strong tasteful songs. This could appeal mostly to fans of some shredding guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen or Chris Impelleteri. Not for fans like Steve Vai, Joe Satch or Paul Gilbert. Although not a Vai or Satch fan, I admit they do make a bit of an artistic statement with their music which is what Petrucci lacks. Again, just for collectors of an album that says it features John Petrucci, nothing more.

Review by Petrovsk Mizinski
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars When I first heard of John Petrucci's first solo album coming up, I was struck with a lot of curiosity as to what to expect. I first heard two songs off the album from the DVD G3:Live in Tokyo, which was part of the tour in which he debuted his solo album. Those two songs were Glasgow Kiss and Damage Control, both of which have very noticeable differences to the studio album versions.

The album kicks off with the track Jaws Of Life, which is a very heavy song utilising the 7 string guitar for a very meaty riffing sound indeed. The song kicks into a heavy C# Phyrgian Dominant riff, which immediately gives the song a somewhat evil and dark vibe. The 'chorus' sections contrast this with a soulful feeling. We come to 2:59, where Petrucci goes into his solo, with the licks being fast, firey, while never losing a sense of passion and good phrasing. After the solo we are given more guitar riff heavy sections, but never does this song lose any focus nor does it become boring when listened to in its entirety.

Next up, there is Glasgow Kiss, with a cool opening lick played over a solid backing section. Soon enough, we come to a section that you may not hear all the parts if you don't pay enough attention, but listen well and you can hear some cool harmonised lines and even some counterpoint. But where this song truly hits you in the gut, is the main solo in the middle section of the song. This solo never ceases to take my breathe away every listen. There is not a single note or phrase I would change in that solo. If there is a problem with this song, it's probably because I feel it drags on a little towards the end, but it's no major cause for concern.

The 3rd track is Tunnel Vision, while not a bad song, is certainly not one of the strong song on the album. It has some great guitar ideas, and sounds distinct enough from the previous two songs that it retains a sense of individuality, but it just doesn't seem to inspire me as much as the first two tracks.

The next track, Wishful Thinking is a particularly great track. It has a nice opening guitar line that just touches me straight away, but any concerns about the rest of the track lacking in emotion can be put to rest. This whole song captures my heart time and time again, from it's slower soulful melodic vocal-like guitar lines and even the fast alternate picked lick at 4:47, with some exceptionally well chosen notes. The last two minutes and twenty seconds of the track take on a somewhat different vibe, taking the track from it's original wondering wishful thinking vibe to a more down to earth wishful thinking feel.

Damage Control is another great song, which displays a large variety of moods and emotions. This song is quite progressive, going through a variety of time/key signature and tempo changes throughout which really help to give the song the great variety of feelings it has to offer. Again, the song has some cool compositional devices like counterpoint, which help to make the song a very interesting and fulfilling listen indeed.

*Just a note, due to certain mishaps, some people got copies of the Album that have either 8 or 9 tracks, me having the 8 track version which has Curve as just one track (the whole 6:25), and no Interlude track and I'm taking this into account in my review*

Curve seems to show Petrucci's Joe Satriani/Steve Vai influence, with the main riff being in the Lydian mode, which gives the song a sense of adventure and wonder. Some of the solos have a very Satriani feeling to them (Satriani of course being a notable user of the Lydian mode in rock music and the legato technque), but this isn't such a bad thing the song doesn't feel like a song Satriani would have written anyway. For me, this song didn't totally hit me, and seemed repetitive at times, and just seemed to drag on just a tad too long.

Next we have Lost Without You, which is an absolutely killer track. It is a tribute to his wife, and a great one at that. The song uses the switch to major, which is a device that Satriani liked to use to show a different side of the story or as a passing moment or feeling within one song. It works to great effect here, and really keeps the song flowing fantastically. The real killer for me, is the very last shred lick, which has such incredible fire and the phrase ends absolutely perfectly, I couldn't think of a better note to end that lick.

The last track, is the longest and arguably the most progressive track on this album. But unfortunately I don't feel those two factors make this song the best song on this album, as it sometimes just feels like it just goes too slow at times, even with all the creative guitar ideas and solos. A good track, but there could have been a more exciting and inspiring end to the album to be honest.

As for how the album comes together as a whole, it seems a somewhat hit and miss affair, with some great and not so great tracks and sometimes I felt the lead guitar was a little low in the mix in some of the songs, but luckily it's not a big issue here. It's a well composed and emotive album, no doubt. But from an instrumental guitar standpoint, there has been more interesting releases, and the same goes for a Prog Metal/Rock standpoint. Nevertheless, fans of Petrucci's guitar work and fans of instrumental guitar could do a lot worse than to check this album out. 3.4/5

Review by LiquidEternity
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars I am a fan of Dream Theater, and I think John Petrucci is a very tasteful guitarist.

Well, he can be.

I know, I know, he's doing a solo album, trying to work out these urges to eat people with his guitar. And it does make this music enjoyable. He plays really fast all over those frets, and it gets impressive. There are some chops on display here that are not easily found in Dream Theater or Liquid Tension Experiment. The rest of the band keeps up nicely. All in all, hey, fun.

But then, as far as an album goes, it gets old fast. Not only do a lot of these riffs and solos remind me back quite heavily to Dream Theater, as is fair, the truth is that it seems that John here wrote himself into a box. His songs are all progressive, as such, featuring odd time signatures and all that. Academically, it's nice. But when it really comes down to it, he's playing the same things he's been playing. The solo album is almost like an exorcism of his redundant, in a way. At least, it should have been, though he turns out some of the same sorts of materials again with Dream Theater.

One of the problems is moods. Great riffs or melodies fade pretty fast to either mindless noodling or a Joe Satriani sort of bridge. While it's not bad, trust me, it's not really all that interesting in the long run. And so, even though I enjoy this album and enjoy the talents of John Petrucci, I think Suspended Animation deserves a mere two stars. It's slightly subpar for a progressive metal album, but that's to be expected, I guess, for an album built around and focusing on solely one guitarist.

If you just can't get enough John Petrucci, go ahead. If you want some wicked shredding, go ahead. But if you love Dream Theater and want more of the same, this is not quite the place to go. The music is quite similar, but this lacks the flair and depth that the rest of that band provides.

Review by CCVP
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Oh my God, an enormously gigantic amount of . . . . . meh????

John Petrucci is well know n around the world for three things: he is Dream Theater's guitarist since the band's first formation, he is an amazing guitarist and he is a very good composer and those are the reasons why i had considerably high expectations concerning his very own solo album. However, in Suspended Animation John Petrucci practically only shows us his guitar-player skills. I mean, there are some good songs, but most of the album material is dull and boring and could be easily discarded without a single loss to the album quality. Also some songs feel like they are just too big, as their only purpose is to expose Petrucci's capability of playing 1 million notes per second or his soloist skills. I think that this album may have been influenced by Petrucci's participation in one G3 tour, alongside with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, since it sure sounds like or seems influenced by them in the whole picture.

About the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings i would like to state:

The instrumental work is amazing, but the large amount of meaningless notes just don't add anything good to the album. Also, there are lots of guitar overdubs made by John Petrucci himself, since he is the only guitar player here. There are usually two guitars, one rhythmic and the other soloist, but sometimes there can be listened three, four or five at the same time! The bass and the drum work are also good, but they are only appendages, they only support the guitars.

The highlights are: Jaws of Life, Glasgow Kiss, Wishful Thinking and Animate/Inanimate

Grade and Final Thoughts

Though being a great guitar player, this album is almost an hour of musical masturbation with a handful of good songs that save the album. Its an album hard to sit through without skipping any song and, because of that, it's a 2 stars grade for me.

Review by progrules
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars As so often is the case on this great site the overall average rating of an album is the correct one .... This is one of the most important conclusions I can make of Suspended Animation. And I really would have liked to say something completely different !

And how is this possible ? Is this a poor album ? Well, no, not really but somehow it falls short. And this is best explained by comparing this album with what Liquid Tension Experiment has done with their first two albums. Those two albums were spontaneously constructed, at least that was what it seemed. And John Petrucci must have thought: I can do this also with a solo release ! And the problem then is that the mentioned spontaneity is gone. Like other reviewers already mentioned this is just an expression of someone who can play the guitar very fast and in a very technical way. All praise for that but in a way it lacks the authenticity that LTE had.

That's in a nutshell what Suspended Animation is about. If you like just great technical guitar play this one is yours but if you want to feel the inspired stuff done like in the LTE-project then you will get disappointed with this output. But on the other hand it really goes too far for me to give the album two stars or even less because of just the feeling it expresses. The musicianship is simply too good and the compositions are well done. So I'm in doubt between three and four stars here but feel that three is the more adequate score for this (3,3).

Review by snobb
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars I am not a fan of Dream Theatre, but I am interested in instrumental music. It was a reason why I listened to this Petrucci solo debut.

No surprises. I heard him playing solo on G-3 live album recorded in Tokyo, where Petrucci played two songs from this, his solo debut album. And I can say, that concert versions are very close to studio originals.

You can hear technically skilled guitarist playing melodic power metal with prog elements. I believe that Petrucci know how to play guitar, or let say - heavy metal guitar. This album is confirmation. Rhythm section is just supporting team for demonstration of his guitar soloing abilities.

But after listening of full album, I didn't change my opinion I had still from listening of Petrucci playing with G-3 in Tokyo: he is a professional heavy metal guitar player, but not a progressive composer and arranger. Songs sound quite melodic, but in fact are not full range compositions at all. Its more high quality demos for demonstration of guitarist technical abilities. And I can confirm, that as such demos the compositions are great examples. But for being great prog songs, there are not enough originality both in composition and performance.

I believe axe-heroes fans will like this album, possibly DT maniacs as well. For all other listeners this album is listenable, but not too much attractive. And in all cases I prefer Steve Vai or Satriani (from the same field).

Review by jampa17
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Elated and inspired. A natural journey through joy.

Since John Petrucci is one of the must successful and acclaimed guitar players in history of prog, is very hard to approach a solo album of him without the band in which he has developed his unique technique. Maybe for his fans this solo album do not come as surprise or groundbreaking in any way, but does he has to surpass his own material in Dream Theater? I think not and he has made one of the must refreshing instrumental guitar albums for sure.

Let's see, what do we have here? A perfect balance between heavy riffs, nice melodies, technical at top class and many solos. Yes, nothing new in this types of albums, but all those parts and styles are really great worked and shows a lot of musicality sense and is touching, not only shredding. For instance, a track like "Glasgow Kiss" is completely uplifting and fresh, and even with the complex arrangements it presents, there's soul there and a lot of nice feelings along to it. Wishful Thinking and Lost Without You are the other tracks where you can feel your soul lifted and have a wonderful journey through the sounds. Just great.

Now, for the more prog metal fans, Damage Control and Jaws of Life seems like the perfect fit. Heaviness, strength, power and very nice melodies and harmonies within. Nothing sounds out of place and even though the tracks are long, it never reaches a point of overwork or trying too hard.

One of the biggest challenges for instrumental albums is to keep it fresh and rememberable, you know, those sequences or melodic lines has to be memorable and in this case is a total win. You can keep the tunes in your mind for hours.

Of course, this will satisfy most fans of prog metal, but I'm sure people with likes of instrumental music will find something nice to enjoy. I just hope people stop prejudging him and hear it without closed mind, because they will miss a lot of joy around here.

A strong 4 stars album. Even with the high standards that the same Petrucci brings over his shoulder, this album is successful and will please everyone. the musicians, no need to say, are top class and the production is great. One of the best instrumental albums I have heard in years. Hope he won't wait another 20 years to throw a second album.

Latest members reviews

3 stars I've never been too keen on these guitar instrumental types. You know the ones... Joe Satriani... Steve Vai... yeah, those types. While I "like" them, and appreciate and respect their talent, I've always found "shred" albums tend to get fairly mundane fairly quickly. But this isn't just another ... (read more)

Report this review (#1776144) | Posted by martindavey87 | Monday, August 28, 2017 | Review Permanlink

3 stars Masterful John shines, but leaves the listener a bit lonely John Petrucci has often been accused of being technically superb but lacking soul in his music. Therefore many reviewers I've spoken with complain that they find his playing style simply unbearable in comparison with great metal/jazz roc ... (read more)

Report this review (#422230) | Posted by Oliverum | Friday, March 25, 2011 | Review Permanlink

3 stars As a big fan of Dream Theater, and especially as an admirer of the playing of John Petrucci, I was excited to hear of his solo album. After hearing the end result I was pleased. It was exactly what I had expected and made a pleasant guitar driven listening experience. Suspended Animation is ob ... (read more)

Report this review (#231327) | Posted by nikow | Thursday, August 13, 2009 | Review Permanlink

3 stars Only until 2005, Dream Theater's guitarist John Petrucci introduced his very awaited first solo album, it's called "Suspended Animation" that first of all, nobody knew what kind of musical experience could bring us before came out on sale. However, once you have in your hands the record and push ... (read more)

Report this review (#216431) | Posted by Epsilon | Monday, May 18, 2009 | Review Permanlink

2 stars Unneeded... That is how I feel about this album. I feel it is simply an outlet for Petrucci to say "Look at me, I'm fast!" now, this is not entirely true, as some of the songs can be quite pretty. I will say that he overuses the standard "Dream Theater" trademarked guitar solo. None of the solo ... (read more)

Report this review (#212048) | Posted by Alitare | Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Suspended Animation is a really great album, but after a few listenings I've found three weak points in it. The first one of them is that the album lacks any degree of originality. Half of this album is undistinguishable from any other Dream Theater album, while the other half y made up of songs ... (read more)

Report this review (#170790) | Posted by GELP | Monday, May 12, 2008 | Review Permanlink

5 stars This album is absolutely underrated in progarchives. This is a completely flawless, fun, amazing album that all guitar players should own. Jaws of Life: It has intense heavy riffs in 6/8 that demand you rock to. There's an incredible solo with no rhythm backing, and overall its a brilliant ... (read more)

Report this review (#149052) | Posted by nathan058 | Monday, November 5, 2007 | Review Permanlink

2 stars I assume that anyone who would attempt to listen to this album would be fans of Dream Theater and/or Liquid Tension so I will write my review with that in mind. In short, if you really enjoy Liquid Tension for all its subtleties and musicianship, I say STAY AWAY. However, if you are a HARD COR ... (read more)

Report this review (#124888) | Posted by Drew | Wednesday, June 6, 2007 | Review Permanlink

3 stars For a solo album, John Petrucci has really held back on the wanking here. Many tracks are very rhythm-heavy and more about establishing the groove than the fluff that floats around in the aether above it all. If you like all the best of DT and want some Vai and Satch influence, this is where ... (read more)

Report this review (#122663) | Posted by kickflipthecat | Thursday, May 17, 2007 | Review Permanlink

3 stars To start, you don't have to be a guitarist to enjoy this album, for example I'm a bass player and I liked this. Of course if you love shredding you'll like this a lot, but this album is NOT all about shredding. In fact, as I always said, Petrucci finds a very good balance between the shred parts ... (read more)

Report this review (#117031) | Posted by Barla | Sunday, April 1, 2007 | Review Permanlink

1 stars I hate to label music as "boring" because music is not really about "having fun", but... It is all this really is... really. The songs usually have 3 moments, which rotate. 1. Heavy part, 2. Cheesy part, 3. Technical part. 2 and 3 are sometimes connected by 4 bars of pentathonic scale.There you are, ... (read more)

Report this review (#103723) | Posted by Revan | Tuesday, December 19, 2006 | Review Permanlink

3 stars This is one of the best guitar-skill display albums I've ever heard, but there's something really missing here; OTHER INSTRUMENTS! I know the idea of this album wasn't to create a band and roll with it, but to show off in some ways, yet I feel that one of the most impressive ways for someone to s ... (read more)

Report this review (#102230) | Posted by metalchocobo | Saturday, December 9, 2006 | Review Permanlink

1 stars Anyone who feels that Petrucci can be a little over the top in Dream Theater should stay away from this release. Petrucci seems to have contracted a bit of Yngiwe-Malmsteenitus. He seems intent on being as technical and fast as possible on this album instead of exploring his ability as a compo ... (read more)

Report this review (#84404) | Posted by Equality 7-2521 | Friday, July 21, 2006 | Review Permanlink

2 stars Here you will read a review from a non guitar player (I just try to play). The album has a good sound, heavy riffs and all of that. But the problem is in the ideas. It's like a try-to-repeat the good heavy songs of Dream Theater, of course, instrumentally, with the same sound, the same concep ... (read more)

Report this review (#80143) | Posted by Proglodita | Friday, June 2, 2006 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Well, before you all kill me I will tell why I gave a 4 star ..... I'M A GUITARRIST .... ok, that explains a lot of my opinion. This album is fantastic talking about each musician skill (even more Petrucci's skill at guitar) and this is incontestable. So has a guitarrist that I am I would say ... (read more)

Report this review (#72596) | Posted by | Wednesday, March 22, 2006 | Review Permanlink

2 stars ehem... a lot of guitar stuff, nothing new actually, very well crafted, very well executed (no criticism towards that) however, is the same sound that he uses in DREAM THEATER. To be honest i think this great guitar player are promoting this record beacuse of his inclusion on the G3 tour, a tour ... (read more)

Report this review (#63815) | Posted by arqwave | Sunday, January 8, 2006 | Review Permanlink

4 stars A very nice instrumental album by Mr Petrucci. It contains all his trademarks: crazy solos, heavy riffs and some beautiful melodies to keep the DT fans happy. The band sounds great too and saves the album from getting repetitive and too much "guitar player orientated". I recommend this cd especi ... (read more)

Report this review (#43111) | Posted by mistertorture | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 | Review Permanlink

3 stars Well, this IS a Guitarrist album, so anyone who lislikes the genre AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I personally don't like guitarrists albums, to much of exibiocionism and lack of instrumentals showing where a whole band can go, instead, it simpy sticks to a background riff, straight drums, and a repea ... (read more)

Report this review (#43024) | Posted by | Monday, August 15, 2005 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of JOHN PETRUCCI "Suspended Animation"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.